Department Of Health Pulls Plug On Investigation, England

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 09 Mar 2010 - 0:00 PDT

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The Department of Health has failed a key test to demonstrate its willingness to empower the independent sector according to ACEVO, the representative body for charity CEOs.

The claim comes as the NHS panel responsible for upholding the rules of Co-operation and Competition for NHS-funded services has dropped a critical case brought to them by ACEVO and the NHS Partners Network.

ACEVO understand the reason for the case being dismissed before completion of the enquiry is the result of a backroom deal within the Department of Health. ACEVO has good reason to believe the panel was confident it had sufficient evidence to take the complaint to the next and final level of investigations.

ACEVO will be issuing several Freedom of Information requests within the next twenty four hours in order to shed light on this murky business, which is clearly the result of anticipated failure by the Department of Health.

Speaking on the decision, Stephen Bubb, CEO of ACEVO said,

"The decision is sending out a dreadful message to service providers in all sectors- The Department of Health is not on your side. They have effectively gagged their own panel. A panel that bends in this way is clearly powerless. They knew they were going to lose so they just pulled the plug

"The case was so near to delivering the right message to private providers. We will ensure that third sector and other providers still get this message. Which is why we are putting in freedom of information requests to the panel. We will get to the bottom of this".

ACEVO and the NHS Partners Network first put their case to the panel in December last year after finding clear evidence to suggest that Great Yarmouth and Waveney PCT had breached NHS procurement guidelines.

The evidence came shortly after Andy Burnham's apparent U- turn in policy when he referred to the NHS as the "preferred provider" of health services. Shortly after the secretary of state made his statement, the PCT in question explicitly excluded private and third sector providers from bidding for a £25m a year contract to run its community services.

Notes

- ACEVO (Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations) is the professional body representing charity and not-for-profit sector chief executives in the UK, with over 2000 members.

- The broad not-for-profit sector now employs the full-time equivalent of 1.5m staff, with a collective annual turnover of £46bn.

- ACEVO is committed to improving third sector leadership skills worldwide

Source
ACEVO

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